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Until Eric had shown up. Asia wasn’t pleased when he started taking over. Eric knew he had the skills Perry needed right now to keep Gunthrie S&I open for business. He coordinated missions, trained lower-level agents and knew how to represent his work to other organizations and companies.
While working with Perry over the past six weeks, Eric had been giving the older man a crash course in the cutting-edge techniques for conducting criminal investigations. In the past, the latest trends would have excited Perry, but now it made him feel overwhelmed and defeated. When Eric had suggested trying a different kind of investigation, it took a while to convince Perry to give it a try.
Eric saw his godfather sitting at the head of the table and gave him an encouraging smile. Eric automatically searched for Julie.
She was whispering furiously with her friend Asia. As Eric moved to the foot of the table, he considered how strange the friendship was between Asia and Julie. They were an unlikely pair. Asia was shrewd and abrasive while Julie was warm and friendly.
He reluctantly pulled his attention away and noticed the other employees watching him. Did they know everyone was in danger of losing their jobs? They were good people, though some were odder than the others. There were a few he wouldn’t trust with a car, let alone a gun. All of the employees seemed to emulate their detective idol, right down to the catchphrases. They made up for their lack of experience and technological know-how with hard work and enthusiasm.
“Okay, everyone,” Eric said. “I’m going to just open the meeting with some news. We no longer provide security services for Bellows and Groggins. Murphy and Associates won the bid.”
There was a beat of heavy silence. Eric paused to let the news sink in. His attention gravitated toward Julie. He frowned when it registered that she didn’t seem particularly worried. In fact, she looked at him as if he would come up with a perfectly good solution to keep the business afloat.
There was something about that look. It was as if she trusted his skills and strategies completely. As if she knew behind the scars and the fatigue, there was a hero inside him ready to save the day.
The way she was looking at him, he almost believed it, too.
He didn’t realize he’d allowed the pause to linger for too long. The employees started to all talk at once, their voices beginning to rise with panic and anger.
Eric raised his hands and motioned for them to quiet down. “But this gives us an opportunity to move in a new direction.”
He was determined to give the idea a good spin, but he didn’t know how the rest of the office would react. When he ran it by his godfather, Perry was surprised. The sad thing was that it didn’t shock Eric at all. He wondered if that was a sign. Was he jaded? Was he that world-weary and cynical?
“Investigations are a lucrative field and Perry has approved of it.” Eric didn’t feel the need to mention how much convincing it took to get Perry to sign off on the idea. “It will require a lot of man hours so everyone will be assigned cases.”
The tension in the room slowly disappeared. He had a feeling it would. Everyone at Gunthrie S&I wanted to be on a case. They longed to solve puzzles that didn’t come out of the crosswords or Sudoku section of the newspaper.
Eric saw Julie sit straight up in her chair. He should have known. Julie has been badgering Perry to let her on a case. Eric saw the thirst for adventure and excitement inside her. It was his job to keep that in control.
“What type of investigation?” Max asked, as he stroked his Magnum, P.I. mustache.
Eric paused as he tried to come up with the most professional description. “We are going to provide premarital screenings and decoy assignments.”
Max cast a glance at Martha, a Miss Marple look-alike who sat next to him. Max returned a steady gaze at Eric. “You mean we’re going to spy on cheating boyfriends?”
Eric gave a deep sigh. So much for trying to make it sound more important. “That’s one of way of explaining it.”
“And lead them into temptation?” Martha asked.
Eric winced. “Yeah.”
“We’ve never done that before,” Max said, his voice tinged with excitement. “Count me in.”
Everyone started talking. He heard someone claiming seniority while another insisted his dubious familiarity with nightclubs was necessary for the project.
“I’m proposing we do a trial run,” Eric said over the voices and waited for them to quiet down again. “First we will need to put together a surveillance team. Audio, visual …”
A couple of people eagerly put up their hands. Eric assigned them roles best suited for their strengths and weaknesses.
“We need a team to do background checks.” Several hands went up. “And we need a decoy,” Eric said as he wrote down the names of the volunteers.
“Decoy?” Martha frowned. “What do you mean by that?”
“We need a seductive woman who will put the moves on our target and see if he takes the bait.”
“Ooh!” Julie’s hand thrust up high. “Pick me!”
A cold chill swept through Eric. No, no, no. Not Julie. She was too innocent, too sweet. He didn’t want Julie as a decoy. It could get dangerous.
“She needs to seduce a man who is probably a bastard,” Eric said between clenched teeth.
Julie waved her hand wildly. “I can do that!”
“She needs to know self-defense,” Eric continued.
Julie propped up her waving arm with her other hand. “I took a course last month.”
“Eric,” Perry said with wry amusement, “I believe someone is volunteering to become a decoy.”
Eric met Julie’s gaze. Her eyes glowed and her cheeks were flushed. She radiated with enthusiasm. Julie looked incredibly beautiful and sexy.
He wanted to be the good guy. He wanted to give her everything her heart desired, but he couldn’t allow her to take on this assignment. She would discover how emotionally draining it was to pretend all the time and lie convincingly. She would start to see the dark underbelly of her world and she would begin to question why she wanted to save it in the first place.
He wasn’t going to be the one who destroyed her innocence. He wanted her to hold on to it just a little while longer.
Eric struggled to break eye contact and looked around the room. “Anyone else?”
2
JULIE FROWNED. WHAT WAS going on? He didn’t write down her name. How many decoys did they possibly need? And it wasn’t as if he had a vast pool of potential candidates.
“No, seriously, I can do it,” she insisted, waving her arm to capture his attention. “I can be the decoy.”
Eric didn’t look at her. “We’ll take that under consideration. Asia? What about you?”
Julie’s hand went down with a thump. Oh … Of course. Her face started to burn bright red as her stomach did a sickening, spiral dive.
What was she thinking? Asia was gorgeous and glamorous. There was a hint of a challenge and the promise of danger in her eyes that men found irresistible. Asia could lead any man to temptation. Julie couldn’t lead a man anywhere even if she had a detailed map.
Asia leaned back in her chair and toyed with a pen in her hands. “Sorry, I would make a horrible decoy, but I’d like to take lead on the trial run.”
“Eric will be in charge,” Perry kindly informed Asia. “But you would make a great decoy. I know you had practice on the force.”
“The focus on those stings was different. We weren’t targeting a specific person. Anyway,” she said with a shrug of her shoulder, “I don’t approach men—they approach me.”
Julie silently nodded in agreement. She had seen it countless times. She was sure Asia could approach men with success, but her friend never needed to practice.
“However,” Asia continued, “I think Julie would make a great decoy.”
“Thanks,” Julie said softly as she kept her head down and her gaze firmly on her clenched hands in her lap. She appreciated what her friend was trying to do, but it wasn’t any use. She wasn’t like Asia. She wasn’t even Asia-lite.
Eric exhaled sharply. “We can always hire out an independent contractor.”
Ouch. Julie squeezed her eyes closed. Could the humiliation get any worse?
Asia abruptly leaned forward in her chair. “That would be a waste when we have someone right here.”
Julie reached out and placed a restraining hand on her friend’s arm. “It’s okay, Asia,” she whispered. “Let it go.”
Asia reluctantly backed down and Julie felt her friend’s arm shake with the restrained aggression. Julie also found it difficult to stay in her seat for the remainder of the meeting. She knew people were giving her pitying looks, but that didn’t sting as much as Eric’s firm and swift rejection.
She hunched her shoulders, trying to appear smaller and invisible as the tears pricked the back of her eyes. Julie heard Eric’s voice as he outlined the strategy, but she wasn’t listening.
What exactly did Eric think she couldn’t do? Did he think she couldn’t seduce a man? Or was he unsure if she could be helpful in an investigation? Maybe it was both? Julie pressed her lips together as the pain ricocheted in her body.
Okay, so she wasn’t hot like Asia. This was not breaking news. She wasn’t mysterious or exotic, but she didn’t look like a zombie, either. All she needed was to take on a sexy alias and she could be the best decoy Eric had ever seen.
But maybe he thought it was impossible. The guy had seen and done it all while hunting down artifacts. He’d probably bedded gorgeous women across the globe and met his match with the best seductresses who hid important treasures. Julie couldn’t compare to that kind of competition.
Julie gave a start when her coworkers got up from their seats. She hadn’t noticed the meeting had ended and she watched the others leave the room, buzzing with enthusiasm about their assignments. She was envious, knowing she was probably going to be stuck with a desk job. There was nothing exciting about that, even if she got to work on the case. Why should she be thrilled at being a Bosley when she wanted to be a Charlie’s Angel?
She cautiously glanced in Eric’s direction and found him watching her. He held her gaze for a moment and she couldn’t look away. His blue eyes were stormy and intense. Eric seemed as if he was about to say something. She braced herself. She had no doubt it would be blunt and brutal.
Eric decided against it and set his mouth in a grim line. He walked out of the conference room without saying a word.
Julie sagged against her chair and took a deep breath.
“That could have gone better,” Asia muttered.
“Thanks for coming to my defense,” Julie said as she patted Asia’s arm. “But if you want the decoy assignment, you should go for it.”
Asia rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. That is why I quit the police force. They always wanted me to work for Vice and dress up as a hooker when I wanted to solve cases.”
It sounded as if they both couldn’t get the assignment they wanted because of the way they looked. Julie never thought of it that way. She always assumed her friend eventually got what she wanted, but maybe Asia’s appearance was a disadvantage as well as a benefit.
Asia gathered her pen and notebook. “So, what are you going to do now?”
Julie shrugged. “Before or after I crawl into a hole and lick my wounds?”
“Come on, Julie,” Asia said with a hint of exasperation in her voice. “There is no need to roll over and play dead at the first sign of opposition.”
Julie pointed at the open door. “He thinks I can’t be a seductive woman.” She hated how her voice hitched in her throat.
“He didn’t say that.”
“Then he thinks I can’t do detective work.” That hurt almost just as much.
“He didn’t say that, either.” Asia leaned her elbow on the back of her chair and gave her a hard, direct look. “In fact, he didn’t make any comment whatsoever. It’s up to you to face him and find out why he won’t let you be a decoy.”
“You’re right.” She obviously wasn’t going to be handed a plum assignment just because she asked for it. Life never worked that way. She needed to find out why Eric was against her and show how wrong he was about her abilities.
Asia rose from her seat and gestured to Julie. “So march into his office right now and find out.”
Julie nodded as she reluctantly got up from her seat. As much as she wanted the job, she wasn’t ready to find out exactly what Eric thought she lacked. The answer was going to be personal. Whatever it was, she didn’t think she could put on a brave face and take the criticism on the chin.
Asia crossed her arms and rested her hip on the conference table. “Yeah, go in like that and he’ll snowball you.”
“Sorry,” she said with a wry smile, “my confidence is a little shaken.”
But it was more than that. All of her wild and sexy fantasies about Eric died a quick death during the meeting. How many times had she fantasized that he was so overwhelmed with desire that he couldn’t control himself? Her daydreams of being a sexy siren to Eric were never going to come true. The reality was a bitter pill to swallow.
“Of course your confidence is shaken. It got knocked around a bit,” Asia said. “But you have to appear stronger and more daring than you feel.”
“I don’t think I can.” She was never a fake-it-until-you-make-it kind of person. She was more of a what-you-see-is-what-you-get girl.
“Fine,” Asia said. “Then accept Eric’s decision with no questions asked and stick to keeping track of uniforms.”
Julie shuddered. “Forget that. I want this assignment.”
“Good.” Asia pointed at the door. “Now go into Eric’s office with guns blazing and don’t take no for an answer.”
Guns blazing. Right. Because that was so how she approached life. “This is going to be a complete waste of time,” Julie muttered as she pushed her seat in.
“Show him that you can be just as fierce and tenacious as he is,” Asia said with a pump of her fist.
“So he can bodily lift me and toss me out of his office?”
Asia’s jaw tightened with annoyance. “If you want to be a decoy, you need to show that you can face any situation and not get rattled when everything goes wrong.”
She was absolutely correct. “The police force really lost out when you quit,” Julie said as she took a step toward the door.
“Damn right. Now stop stalling and move,” Asia ordered as she gave Julie a little push out of the conference room.
ERIC HEARD THE TREAD of her footsteps. They were soft but the stride was determined. He tilted his head back and groaned. He should have remembered that Julie Kent was as stubborn as she was sweet.
At least they could have it out privately. He didn’t like shutting her down in front of an audience, but Julie needed to realize that she wasn’t ready to be a decoy. Eric rose from behind his desk just as she knocked on his door.
“Come in, Julie.”
The door swung open and Julie peeked in. “How’d you know it was me?”
“Lucky guess.” He crossed his arms and braced his legs. He was prepared to battle it out with Julie. She needed to know that he was the boss and the expert. She needed to accept his final answer, but he’d show some mercy. The last thing he wanted to do was crush her spirit.
She quickly shut the door and stood in front of his desk. He thought she was a bit nervous, but Julie placed her hands on her hips and met his eyes with a steady stare. “I want to be the decoy.”
“Never going to happen.”
She blinked at his immediate answer. “Why?”
